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The Ice Crop

The Ice Crop - Rich Harvest Being Gathered by Local Dealers
from the Springfield, Mo. Herald, January 21 1888, Page 5.

"The cold winds from the north have blown somebody good, in accordance with the old proverb, and everybody, in fact, will share the benefits next summer. The ice men – Messrs. Armstrong and Walker, J. J. Pueler, V. S. Bartlett, Geo. Fricke, S. Dingeldein, Henry Eaton and R. Jenki[n] have not been exactly making hay while the sun shines but storing away ice while the sun failed to shine.

The local ice crop for the year is estimated at 10,000 tons, against 7,000 tons put up last year. Ice, as good as ever harvested, is found in abundance frozen from six to nine inches thick, and all hands are busy saving the crop, Armstrong & Walker alone employing about forty men. This is one of the few years when sufficient ice will be saved to supply the home demand. While the enforcement of the local option law may decrease the consumption materially, the increased use of hydrant water, it is thought, will make the demand as great as ever in Springfield."

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